A Libyan transitional government will start work even while Muammar Gaddafi remains in Tripoli, a Libyan UN envoy said today.

But deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi warned in an interview with AFP that it could still take weeks to force Gaddafi out of power and that no foreign troops should enter the country.

Former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil announced on Saturday that he had formed a transitional government based in the eastern city of Benghazi which is in opposition hands.

Dabbashi said the transitional government would be launched "soon" and it would start work even while Gaddafi controls the capital.

"It should be created immediately. It is very important to de-legitimize the Gaddafi government," said Dabbashi, one of the first Libyan envoys to turn against Gaddafi over his brutal crackdown on opposition protests in which hundreds are said to have died.